This is my neighborhood church, St. Eustache, a five-minute walk from my apartment. It was built during the years between 1532 and 1640, but the parish it serves (workers at Les Halles market) goes back to the 1200s.

Moliere and Richelieu were baptised here, Louis XIV (the Sun King) took communion here, Mozart's mother's funeral was held here, and Voltaire is buried here.

The pyramids you see in the foreground are part of the Forum des Halles, a huge underground shopping mall that was built where the old marketplace used to be.

The projections you see along the right-hand side of the church are roof drains.

On a warm evening, dishes clinking, rumble of conversation, the street sounds like a big dinner party. Which is exactly what it is.

Occasionally a glass hits the pavement, accompanied by laughter. When a full wine bottle goes, though, nobody laughs.

So there you are, seated at a tiny table on the narrow sidewalk, 10:00 in the evening, innocently enjoying your Bordeaux and your steak tartare, when--what the...?

les Motos

Another day, sigh, another demonstration. Don't ask me what it's all about. They're always very organized, printed t-shirts and all, so I think it's safe to assume they're labor unions. The bigger ones are accompanied by traffic cops and followed by street sweepers, but these little ones just appear out of nowhere.

Trying to find a fork. My apartment was designed for a seven-footer who takes up very little horizontal space. Wrong on both counts. This picture is for Susan M., who wanted a picture of me in Paris.

A fraction of the Louvre at closing time. Tiny people in the distance under the arches, far left. You go down two escalators inside the pyramid and find yourself in an enormous, noisy room surrounded by ticket desks and packs of tired tourists, at least half of whom cut in front of you in line at Starbuck's. More escalators go up into different wings of the building, and one hallway leads to an underground shopping mall. It's just like a regular mall, with record stores, etc, but as you walk along you can see walls of the medieval structure that used to be here.

Washing Pei's panes. At least, that's what I think they're doing with this machine that very slowly crawls along the metal frame. The water that you see gushing is a fountain on the other side of the pyramid.

I can't help myself: it's the "how it happens" that interests me. I showed you the Pyramid window washer, and now here is the back yard of the Tuileries Gardens.

And, if you look very carefully, you can see the Tuileries cat. No, that's not a cage. He's just sunning himself like all his fellow Parisians on a nice day. What with four outdoor cafes and a sandwich stand, he probably has plenty of work to do. And he has the sandbox that other cats can only dream of.

Parisian canines, tail end of Louvre in background.

The other night the battery in my alarm clock went dead. Not to worry. The next morning I was awakened by a small oompah band. Clusters of kids in paper costumes were parading down the street, tossing confetti at onlookers, accompanied by an equal number of parents with cameras. I haven't the slightest idea what this was all about.

Jardin des Tuileries. I had lunch here in this cafe. Louvre in the background.

Jardin des Tuileries. Arc du Carrousel in the background. Haha in foreground, cordoned off for your safety.

But where's the merry-go-round, I wondered? "Carrousel," I find, once meant a kind of equestrian spectacle, with costumed horses dancing and performing pantomimes. They were popular in the 1600's. Henri IV held one that included two elephants, at midnight, by torchlight, in the courtyard of the Louvre. The courtyard became known as the Cour du Carrousel.

Centuries later, Napoleon celebrated himself with a "small" triumphal arch there in front of his house, the Tuileries. Not "the" Arc de Triomphe, but l'Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel. Nowadays, there's an underground shopping mall in the same area, the Carrousel du Louvre.

If you go to Paris in March, don't forget your coat.
(Jardin des Tuileries)